Various products including food products, semiconductor products, medical products, and any other products that have an adverse reaction to air, are packaged in a controlled environment. Because even a small amount of air can seriously damage the product or decrease its shelf life, various attempts have been made to efficiently package these products in controlled environments using vacuum and/or controlled environment gas.
Gassing rail systems have been utilized as one way to remove air from product containers. Products in open top containers are carried, along rails, by a conveyor belt in a direction of movement. A gas flushing device directly above the rail supplies controlled environment gas to the container beneath it.
However, there are problems in providing a controlled environment atmosphere when two parts, such as a bottle and a cap, must be joined to seal the enclosure of the product. It is often difficult to maintain a controlled environment atmosphere in the bottle and the cap until the portions are joined. Various machines must be employed to flush the bottles and caps as they move along high speed production lines. Often, in the time that the bottle and cap leave the gassing machines and are joined, their controlled environment atmosphere is diluted by entering air.
It would, therefore, be desirable to have a gassing system that overcomes the above disadvantages.